Why Reading Poetry is Essential for Personal Growth

Benefits of Reading Poetry

Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,

And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;

Round many western islands have I been

Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told

That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;

Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies

When a new planet swims into his ken;

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes

He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men

Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

—John Keats

For many people, poetry is a challenging and boring genre of literature. However, there are actually many benefits to reading poetry. Poetry can improve your writing skills, help you better understand emotions, and make you more creative. Additionally, poetry can provide a unique perspective on the world and help you appreciate the beauty in everyday life. When I read poetry, my life was shaped dramatically by the arrangement of verses, especially when I started writing poetry.

I can’t think of any other piece of literature that evokes emotion, imagery, sound, and figure of speech than poetry. Poetry in ancient civilizations was the ritual and carrier of mythos from one generation into the next through song and dance in memorable meter and rhyme. Poetry usage changed with time:

• In classical Greece, emphasis was placed on using speech in rhetoric, drama, song, and comedy.
• From the early renaissance right into late romanticism, the emphasis was on repetition and rhyme and the aesthetics that distinguish poetry from prose.
• And in modern times, since the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more loosely defined as a fundamental creative act using language.

A poem is an excellent way of taking complex ideas, emotions, or themes in life and selecting a few chosen words with repetition of sound and figurative language to capture the essence of humanity and reality.

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” —T.S. Eliot

Beauty and truth

Classical Greece first explored this idea of beauty and truth through art to represent the ideal form that we should cultivate, and it was lost to us until the concept of beauty and truth re-emerged in romanticism: in the 1800s, it was best known by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel T. Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy B. Shelley, and John Keats, as well as its darker side, Edgar Allan Poe; saw the beauty and sublime of nature and life in a time of war, enlightenment of reason, and industrialization separating humanity from nature.

These poets placed emphasis that sense and emotions were just as important as reason and order; where the triviality of everyday life feels mundane and brutish and in other moments “sublime — awe mixed with terror,” life isn’t just a human experience but also one in alignment with nature and the heavens therein lies the beauty and truth.

And yet, as Poe did so masterfully highlight the dark side of beauty and truth—the melancholy, ills, pangs, and death that life holds within its shades could not be complete without this truth. When you read the words aloud, you can feel the message behind the poet’s words and their theme.

Brevity is the soul of wit

This phrase has multiple meanings: one, an excellent piece of writing or speech should be brief and concise, and second—a funny speech should be short—otherwise, it loses its flavor. In this sense, poetry seeks to capture knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, emotions, and humor present in the context in which it finds itself and wishes to communicate the essence of a message. Even though you may find this phrase expressed in fiction, debates, or speeches, nothing stirs the psyche more than verse.

“Prose: words in their best order; poetry: the best words in the best order.” ―Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The mental stimulation of language

Reading poetry can provide mental stimulation in several ways. First, it can help to improve your vocabulary and understanding of language. Second, reading poetry can help improve your communication skills as you learn to express yourself more clearly and concisely. Third, poetry can also enhance your critical thinking skills as you learn to analyze and interpret the meaning of the words on the page. Reading poetry can make you a more well-rounded and mentally stimulated individual.

The emotional benefits

When it comes to the emotional benefits of reading poetry, there are many. For one, poetry can be incredibly cathartic. It can be a way to process and work through difficult emotions without having to talk about them directly. Additionally, poetry can be a source of comfort and connection, especially when we feel alone or ambivalent about love. Reading poems that speak to our experiences can help us feel seen and understood. Lastly, poetry can offer hope and possibility, even in dark times. It can remind us that our emotions are valid and that we are not alone.

For instance, when you read one of Shakespeare’s plays, such as Hamlet, a tale about seeking vengeance for his father, Hamlet also contends with the meaning of life and existence—summed up in one of his statements:

“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” (Hamlet, act 3 scene 1)

Hamlet’s ambivalence—it’s essentially a reflection of you. Knowledge of the intellect and heart (soul) helps you to identify what is significant to you, to navigate life by exercising your values in action and speech, and to realize you are not alone when life appears silly at times, just as you may partake in Hamlet’s feelings, deeds, and fate.

The improvement of communication skills

Poetry can be seen as a form of communication, and like all forms of communication, it can be improved with practice. By reading poetry, we train our brains to better process language and to think in creative and non-linear ways. This can help us in our everyday lives when we need to communicate with others. We can better express ourselves in written or spoken form. We may also become better listeners and more attuned to the nuances of language.

Of course, not all poetry is created equal. To get the most benefit from reading poetry, seek works that challenge you, starting with sharing poetry. These could be poems that are difficult to understand at first glance or unfamiliar language or concepts. By pushing ourselves to understand these complex works, we can expand our horizons and deepen our understanding of poetry and communication.

The Gist

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” —Dylan Thomas

Reading poetry has many benefits, but one of the most important is that it can help improve your writing skills. By reading poetry, you can learn different ways to express yourself and communicate your thoughts and feelings. Reading poetry can also help you better understand and appreciate literature. Overall, reading poetry can make you a more well-rounded person with language and endless possibilities of expression.

• Life can be complex and nuanced in ways that suggest a meaningless and chaotic existence. Still, I assure you that we can see the beauty and truth all around us when we identify life in the poetic form of its harmonious blend of sound and figurative language; its splendor reveals what is essential to each of us.
• What prose does well in providing information in its timeline sequence that reveals a world where characters’ motivation unfolds from start to finish? However, prose rarely matches the power that poetry takes with a magnifying glass to encapsulate in its brevity of exquisite details and intricacies of everyday life in the grandiose background of an expanse still unknown to us.
• When you combine reading and writing poetry, you also improve your writing skills, and by improving your writing skills, you can better communicate ideas and emotions.
• Reading poetry can help you increase your vocabulary and linguistic proficiency. Second, reading poetry can help you communicate more effectively as you develop your ability to explain yourself succinctly. Thirdly, poetry can aid in developing your critical thinking abilities as you learn to evaluate and decipher the text.
• When we feel agitated, finding a poem and slowly reading it can help lower our blood pressure. It can also be cathartic to help us process difficult emotions when we feel alone. It can also give us a sense of hope in dark times.

In my next post, I’ll convey the benefits I discovered from reading myths.